M-C DEAN

Experience Designer / Yoga Teacher

I'm a product designer with a passion for user centered design. I am also an advocate of creative thinking approaches and design thinking.

I specialize in experience design for software. I've worked on lots of websites, web applications, mobile and social media products, applying principles and techniques from psychology and social sciences, human factors, human-computer interaction, visual design, accessibility and usability. My Ph.D focused on natural language generation and human communication with machines, a combination of AI and HCI.

I have a strong drive for innovation and have designed, envisioned and created new products for different market places and industries from scratch, as well as the strategy for bringing them to market and gaining user adoption. I bring the power and energy of design thinking to both startups and big companies. I like to focus my efforts on large-scale industry disruption.

I love to draw, take photos and skateboard. I'm a student and teacher of Yoga. I'm always exploring new things.

The Impossible list is not a bucket list, it is designed to challenge you to do more than you normally would. It's not just about being able to paint for example, but having that work displayed in a major gallery too. It's about having a list to inspire you to do things, and live your life to the full. There are a lot of things I may never achieve on the list, but the journey will be interesting no doubt. I'll update it as I go. The idea for the list comes from Joel Runyon, and I picked a few off his list too, they were too good to pass up! I consolidated my curent bucket list with this as well.  

Life: 

Help 100 Entrepreneurs Better Their Lives Through Micro-Loans at Kiva.org (2/100)

Sponsor a child (July 2010)

Give free Experience Design advice to 100 ethical start ups (4/100)

Teach 100 Yoga classes for free to underprivileged people (40/100)

Be a conservation project volunteer

Buy no clothes or shoes for a year

Take a photo every day for a year (2011)

 

Community:

Teach Yoga to the elderly

Teach Yoga to children

Join the surf rescue community

 

Fitness:

Run the city to surf

Surf at Deadmans

Learn to slide on the longboard (skate)

Learn to hang ten (surfing)

Learn to climb

Learn to slackline well

Climb mount Kosciuszko

Hike to Everest Basecamp

Hold a freestanding handstand (February 2012)

Hold a handstand for 5mins

Hold Pincha Mayurasana (June 2012)

Hold Pincha Mayurasana for 5mins

Go Bouldering in Joshua Tree

Hike Half Dome in Yosemite

Hike in the Patagonian Andes

Hike the Inca trail

Learn to breakdance

Bike through a country

Complete Tough Mudder

Complete an Adventure race

Do 100 pushups

Do 200 Sit-ups (October 2011)

Walk 250km Great North Walk

 

Travel:

Visit every continent

- North America

- South America

- Europe

- Asia

- Australia

- Antartica

- Africa

 

Visit:

- Antelope Canyon, USA

- Santorini, Greece

- Maldives

- Machu Picchu, Peru

- Iceland

- Bora Bora

- Petra, Jordan

- Moraine Lake, Canada

- Plitvice, Croatia

- Pamukkale, Turkey

- Bagan, Mayanmar

- Salar De Yuyni, Bolivia

- Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

- Angkor Wat, Cambodia

- Meteora, Greece

- Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

- Tanah Lot, Bali

- Palawan, Phillipines

- Uluru, Australia

- Carerra lake, Chile

- Alaska, USA

- Space

 

Surf in:

- Hawaii (April 2012)

- Mentawai Islands, Indonesia

- Bali, Indonesia

- Fiji

- Australia (March 2009)

- Costa Rica

- Samoa

- Tahiti

 

Mountain Bike trails:

Copper Harbor, Michigan

Coroico, Bolivia

Great divide mountain bike route, Canada & US

Mt Fuji, Japan

Rotorua, New Zealand

 

Meditation & Yoga:

Go on a 10 day Vipassana  retreat

Go to Pema Chodron's Gampo Abby on retreat

Visit Plum village for a retreat

Meet Jack Kornfield and learn meditation from him

Meet Thich Nhat Hanh and learn meditation from him

Go to Shambala Mountain centre on a retreat

Study with Dharma Mittra

Study with Nancy Gilgoff

Study at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram

Study with Shiva Rea

Attend Bihar School of Yoga for Vedic Studies

Attend Rolling Meadows Meditation Retreat in Tulum, Mexico

Meet the Dalai Lama

 

Experiences:

- Speak at TED

- Speak at SxSW (March 2012)

- Race a Car

- Race in the Red Bull Soapbox race

- Bobsleigh (December 2009)

- Ride a Harley across the USA

- Speak at Wake Up Sydney!

 

Art and crafts:

- Take a course in print making and make an amazing poster

- Make a thought provoking sculpture for the public

- Paint a huge canvas

- Sell some of my art work

- Make newsworthy street art

- Take a carpentry course and build a studio

- Be a finalist or win the National Geographic photography competition

- Win the Canon academy photography competiton

- Win the Shutterbug photography competition

- Have art work displayed in the MCA

- Learn to play 100 bass lines in different styles (10/100)

 

Events to attend:

Go to burning man

Go to Bali spirit festival

See the northern lights

SxSW (March 2012)

Attend Deepavaali (Festival of Lights) in India

Attend "Dia de Muertos" in Mexico

Go to Sundance film festival

Attend Holi Festival in Nepal

Attend Carvival (Rio)

Go to Venice Carnaval (Italy)

Go to La Tomatina in Spain

Go to Obon Festival in Japan

 

Other Challenges:

Write a physical book   (Ph.D thesis in 2010)

Start a movement

Make a Movie and have a screening

Invent & manufacture a new object